homemade cage/brace for mt

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mooman007uk

mooman007uk

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been doing some tinkering working on a chassis brace...not really a rollcage cos it's alloy and will bend if 37lb of truck lands on top of it. I mocked up the cage and had my local aluminum fab shop tig it for me. Chassis is definitely stiff now.
Have to cut the stock body out at the back to clear it. I got a proline 5t body coming which will fit straight over it.
mark 2 will be out of 4130 chrome moly tubing with a similar design but will be a roll cage so I can run with no body, it'll have 4 point mount to the chassis plate instead of just 2.\

the mock up
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and after welding
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moo looks nice,very nice actually but how the heck will you take it off when you need to?
it looks pretty well welded there,unless it has screw off points.
 
dc2 man said:
moo looks nice,very nice actually but how the heck will you take it off when you need to?
it looks pretty well welded there,unless it has screw off points.
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by the looks of it. it comes off with 2 screws on the rear shock tower and 2 screws on the front shock tower, plus the 2 chassis screw under the "hoop".. looks awsom moo. wondering how the welder got everything so perfect with the mounting alignment. did he have the truck to make sure it fit?
 
kryptonite5b said:
by the looks of it. it comes off with 2 screws on the rear shock tower and 2 screws on the front shock tower, plus the 2 chassis screw under the "hoop".. looks awsom moo. wondering how the welder got everything so perfect with the mounting alignment. did he have the truck to make sure it fit?
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You're almost right with the screws...4 at back (shock post holes), two on chassis and 4 up front...couple of mins and it lifts straight off.
For alignment it was tacked up on the chassis at a mechanics place that had a mig with me holding the bits where I wanted them, then Itook it off and took it to a fab shop with a tig (they wouldn't allow me to hold it on the shop floor...health and safety liability bullshit) for final welding...they didn't have the truck...i was a bit worried it would twist and pull all which ways off the chassis but the young lad that did it knew what he was doing so far as the warp factor and did a brilliant job...it took very little tweaking afterwards to get it to bolt right up.
It's not perfect but pretty close and more than good enough for the application. I'm real pleased with how it turned out.
 
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Bigger the Better said:
That's really nice looking. Do you think you need to make anymore bars anywhere for further protection?
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when i make the 4130 cage it'll have 2 tubes at the back istead of the one thick one with cross bracing and 2 extra chassis mount points close to the steering servos with some extra triangulation for strength and rigidity...it'll be built to withstand 37lb slamming down on it when it goes all wrong off a jump.

this one might get extra side braces from the bottom of the brace on the main hoop to the plate at the front to stop the bent pieces running from the hoop to shock tower from flexing
 
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Unfortunately I don't have the tooling or the time to produce these in any numbers, i wish I did, same as the limiting straps...had a fair bit of interest but making everything with hacksaw drill and file takes bloody ages.
however once the 4130 cage is done...if there were enough interest I know someone who could possibly make up a few for me but they might be a bit pricey.
 
Could always sell your idea to someone else. I know a lot of people may not pay cash but you could get maybe the 1st few production ones before they sell to the public. Again nice job.
 
Rossco said:
Nice design,,,well done bud!
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been busy since that prototype, here's what i came up with for my MT and TT...TT one has gone now as has the TT to help fund my nutech MT which will be soon getting a 4130 cage too


MT cage
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and modded for vrc 5b propipe I fabbed to fit and repainted

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TT cage
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wicks...was wondering why I hadn't seen that pipe mounted...how's it look all chromed up...lets see some pics
 
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